Outside, members of the BDP media committee were waiting for their chairman, constantly the checking time and speaking on their cellphones. After 4pm journalists were growing impatient. Many did not know the agenda for the press conference. The invite, some of which came from the government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay did not state what VP/BDP chairman was going to share with the media. The timing for the press conference was planned to meet the midweek newspaper print deadlines. The BDP propaganda machine knows that all the midweek newspapers go to print from Monday night.
There were lots of issues that the media speculated would make it on the agenda. Masisi was in the news quoted as saying, “kea se kotama” (I’m the next president). Maybe he was going to respond to why he broke the BDP tradition of avoiding a public declaration of one’s political aspiration and ambition. There was also his supposedly sour relationship with the BDP secretary general Botsalo Ntuane – maybe the two had finally buried the hatchet and wanted to celebrate the ceasefire with an announcement to the media. Another hot issue was former Speaker of the National Assembly, Margaret Nasha’s ‘one-line’ resignation letter from the BDP and joining the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). Maybe the VP was going to counter the move and steal her thunder by making a big announcement or something. Anything. Journalists mooted these issues and speculated on Masisi’s impending address.
